Drowning Hotch
by Doggett.Rules
Summary: I own nothing Criminal Minds. Hotch and Emily are ice skating. The ice breaks. Will Emily save Hotch before he drowns?


"Weeeeee!" Hotch recklessly slid across the ice resulting in a thump to the ground. "Not again!" He closed his eyes and whined. The bright beams of the sun glared down on him and reflected off the frozen lake.

"Well I'd tell you 'I told you so', but your actions said it for me," Emily laughed and held out a hand to help Hotch up.

Hotch rolled his eyes. "Yeah, yeah whatever," Hotch smiled as he grabbed Emily's hand and yanked her down on to the ice.

"Aaron!" Emily groaned.

Hotch laughed and stood up, skating away.

Emily wobbled as she stood up and took off after Hotch. She bent down and swept her hand across the ice gathering some snow. She laughed when she heard Hotch yelp as he got struck with the snowball.

"Oh! It's on now!" Hotch laughed and grabbed some snow, and soon both of them were taking part in a massive snowball war.

"Catch me if you can!" Emily mocked while gaining speed.

"Oh I will!" Hotch smiled and moved his feet quicker.

He was caught off guard though when Emily did a very sharp left turn causing him to skate off in the distance. He had been going at such a fast speed he didn't have time to make a sudden stop. Now he was reaching the other end of the lake. It was more of an isolated area, so not many people skated there.

Also there were quite a few branches and what not from trees in the water sticking out of the ice. Hotch just so happened to stumble upon one of the branches. He moaned as he face planted in to the ice.

"Oww…" Hotch mumbled. "Stupid useless trees… err well not completely useless since they provide oxygen… but whatever that doesn't matter right now!" Hotch shook his head at himself for the pointless rant.

Emily was smiling and he smiled back. A confused frown replaced the smile though when he heard the sound of a crack.

"What the…" Hotch muttered and stood still.

After a minute of silence, Hotch shrugged his shoulders and continued to skate. He must be imagining things.

_CRACK_

Okay… that was a definite crack. Hotch grew worried. He increased his pace trying to get back to the more stable ice. His breaths quickened as crack after crack spread through the ice. He could make it; he could make it.

"AHHH!" Hotch screamed as the ice gave in.

The nippy water flowed over the ice, and snapped at him like hundreds of piranhas. He did the only thing he could think of, and it was most definitely not the intelligent choice. He panicked. He could feel his heart pounding against his chest at an abnormally high speed. He gasped and spluttered while reaching his arms out.

The ice was too slippery to grab… and the pieces that he could would just break off in his hands. Hotch's body was going numb. It was a horrid feeling. He never knew water could be so frigid and anguishing. He was about to give up hope when he heard an agonizing scream.

"Aaron!" Emily cried upon seeing her lover fading away into the water.

"Emily! He-" Hotch was cut off by a mouthful of the frosty water. He choked harshly as more water filled his lungs. He slowly slipped under the water. His body couldn't hold out any longer. He prayed that Emily would make it in time.

"Aaron!" Emily shouted as she dove straight in to the water with no second thoughts. She had no problem risking her own life to save Hotch. Emily swam faster. Everything stung. The water pierced her like a thousand daggers.

Then she caught sight of Hotch and gasped. It was a ghastly sight. Hotch was pale white, his eyes were closed and his body completely limp. Emily charged forwards, grabbed him tightly and swam to the surface. She gasped as the fierce wind bit at her face.

Taking deep breaths, Emily swam over to what looked like thicker ice and placed Hotch out of the water. She then dragged herself cautiously on to the ice. Not even stopping for a break she held Hotch and crawled away from the hole and back on to safe ice.

Emily lay Hotch on his back and felt for a pulse. She let out a deep relieved sigh when she managed to find a pulse, but it was very faint. Growing extremely concerned when she realised Hotch wasn't breathing, Emily knew she'd have to give CPR.

She rolled Hotch on to his stomach and began to push on his back, hoping to get him to choke up the water. A small stream of water trickled out of Hotch's mouth. Emily rolled him over on to his back again.

Emily tilted Hotch's head back, pinched his nose and knelt down giving him a breath. Emily waited a second and gave another breath. There was no movement from Hotch.

"Come on Aaron, please!" Emily begged.

She went through the process again before resorting to the chest compressions. After a few minutes of CPR and still no movement from Hotch, Emily broke down and laid her head on Hotch's chest.

Tears streamed down her face. Her head jolted up at that moment though. It was a pain filled cough that had alerted her. Hotch was alive… alive but coughing up a ton of water. Emily shot up and rubbed her hand on Hotch's back trying to comfort him. Once he had a steady breathing rhythm, Emily didn't hesitate to pull him in to a close hug.

"Emily…" Hotch croaked.

"A-Aaron! I-I thought I'd l-l-lost you!" Emily sobbed in to Hotch's shoulder.

Emily gripped tighter on to Hotch's shirt.

"Emily… you'll _never _lose me," Hotch whispered.


End file.
